Migration into the state creates 26 new ‘towns’ out of Goa’s villagesAjay
Thakur I The Goan ,Panjim20 July 2013Pic Credit: Sagun Gawade“The apprehension
is that Goans will become an alienated microscopic minority within their own
state.” Politics apart, Goa Government’s worry in Memorandum on Special Status
given by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh five
weeks ago is not quite unfounded. Census 2011 has made a startling observation.
There are twenty six new ‘census’ towns that have emerged over the last decade.
Goa has not been urbanised but its’ villages have become urban.Check this.
While traditionally tourism dependent villages like Calangute and Candolim
turned into urbanised census towns a decade ago, new villages even in remote
parts of Goa are turning into non-agriculture dependent economies. Away from
the mainstream, Ponda Taluka has silently emerged as an urban centre with once
agrarian societies shifting away to non-agricultural pursuits. Villages like
Khandola, Orgao, Madkai, Priol, Borim and Usgao emerging as new census towns
signals this new trend.“This shift can be safely attributed to the fact that
more of the population is getting into non-agricultural activities”, explains
Dr Nandkumar Sawant, Associate Professor of Geography, Chowgule College. Dr
Sawant, who is considered an authority on migration studies into Goa and an
expert analyst closely associated with Directorate of Census Operations Goa
further explains that this trend is purely due to migration. “With arrival of
people with new skillsets into the towns, there is an automatic spillover into
the neighbouring villages. Consequently population increases, agricultural
traditions dilute as main occupation and urbanisation occurs”, explains Dr
Kamat.Interestingly, while migration elsewhere may have led to the creation of
more slums in Goa, it has remained restricted to municipal limits majorly. The
villages simply had the local populace being replaced by the migrants. “Look at
Davorlim, which is outside Margao. There rentals are cheap, so more of the
lower strata find it convenient to live there. There are more chances of
talking to someone in Hindi there than Konkani”, points out Dr. Sawant.
Margao’s economical lure has consequently made census towns out of Raia, Nuvem
and Verna. Shockingly, South Goa’s rice bowl Curtorim is also a census town due
to a shift away from agriculture.Census 2001 had shown that Goa’s population
had a fourteen percent growth of migration into the state since the last census
in 1991. Statisticians at the Registrar of Census Operations state that the
worry in the villages is that the original identity of the villages will cease
to exist. “Calangute could well be the benchmark of the way we are heading”,
says Calangute MLA Michael Lobo. “From Nepalese manning shacks and security
posts to Mumbaikars and Delhiwallahs running restaurants and clubs,
cosmopolitisation has changed our identity,”Lobo rues.And he isn’t wrong with
58 of Goa’s 228 villages turning into towns and losing their character, Goa is
fast turning away from its old charming self to an aggressive new metropolis.9
LAKH URBAN GOANS, 5.5 LAKHS RURAL GOANS
OVER 2 LAKH URBAN HOMES, JUST OVER 1 LAKH RURAL HOMES
10 % OF POPULATION MIGRANTS IN 2001
20 % OF POPULATION MIGRANTS IN 2011
Rural households: 1.3 lakhs
Urban households: 2.2 lakhs
Rural population: 5.5 lakhs
Urban population: 9.1 lakhs
Census towns born between 2001 – 2011: 26
Villages that turned census towns: 58
Migrant population in 2001: 1.2 lakhs
Percentage of Goa’s total population: 10%
Goa’s migrant population in 2011:2.9 lakhs
Percentage of Goa’s total population: 20%
Top three states that send migrants to Goa: Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar
Pradesh
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